Each day a different image or photograph is featured, with an
accompanying caption, which deals with various topics in Earth Science.

Sand Canyon and Sleeping Utes

This photo above (taken on May 9, 2003) shows Sand Canyon, which is located in southwestern Colorado, in the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and the Sleeping Ute Mountains. The topography represented here is typical of the Colorado Plateau province. Much of the plateau consists of uplifted flat sedimentary bedrock cut into deep canyons by streams and rivers. The plateau is also punctuated by occasional laccolith structures (medium sized plutons) such as the Sleeping Utes seen here. The difference in the flat sedimentary bedrock and the more resistant igneous rock is clearly seen in this image. Sand Canyon also contains ancient Anasazi ruins. Like Mesa Verde to the east, this canyon was the site of a fairly large pueblo community, which had peak populations in 900 and 1300 A.D. Many of the canyons in this region were populated by such pueblos.